AAMIBBSBY 6

Everyone was blinded by the two showing off their affection, especially Fang Tingyu, who looked at them with great interest. “Alright, no need to show off that you have a partner.”

A faint smile rested between Shen Shixiao’s brows and he asked in a low voice, “Really giving it to me? If you can get the most chips today, you can make a request to anyone.”

It is quite tempting, but Xia Zhi still shook his head. 

He was very grateful to Shen Shixiao for giving him an opportunity to build connections today. After all, this requirement wasn’t proposed in the agreement. Moreover, many stars who marry into wealthy families are not allowed to show their faces in public in the entertainment circle.

“My wish has already been fulfilled, I want you to fulfill yours too.” Xia Zhi’s voice was sweetly pleasant, like the sweetest peach-flavored ice cream of summer.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. He was almost moved by himself.

“My wish?” Shen Shixiao chuckled softly. He took the chip and placed it carefully in his pocket. “Thank you.”

Bai Qi stood to the side, sourly exchanging glances with the others, mouthing the question, Was Shixiao fed a bewitching potion? Otherwise, how could he stop thinking about the bai yueguang he longed for day and night? 

It must be that this little goblin¹Literally “little demon/spirit.” Depending on context, it can be an insult (a homewrecker/seducer) or a flirtatious term of endearment. Here, Bai Qi is using it half-insultingly, half-reluctantly admiringly, thinking Xia Zhi is a master seducer. Xia Zhi is too good at seducing people!

The afternoon sun cascaded through the stadium’s stained glass and fell onto Xia Zhi’s body, as if crushing the winter’s ice and snow—exceptionally gentle. 

Bai Qi thought to himself, Xia Zhi’s appearance is indeed not bad.

The bowling game continued. This time, it was Shen Shixiao’s turn to hold the bowling ball and slowly walk over. Fang Tingyu’s interest was piqued. “Shixiao, you usually don’t participate in this kind of activity.”

Shen Shixiao slightly stretched his arm. “Bored today.”

Slightly different from Xia Zhi’s way of playing, Shen Shixiao was more aggressive when throwing the ball. The muscle lines on his back were well-proportioned and shapely, and his fragmented black hair turned into a dark shadow. Accompanied by a loud bang, all the bowling pins opposite fell to the ground.

Bai Qi rolled his eyes and clapped symbolically.

After getting the chip, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Shen Shixiao walked straight toward Xia Zhi and stretched out his arm. “For you.”

Xia Zhi was startled. How could he have the nerve to accept this? So many people are watching! 

No, no!

“Thank you.” Xia Zhi coughed lightly and put it in his pocket.

“D*mn! Are you two done or not?”

“Just watching you two show off your affection here.”

Shen Shixiao leisurely glanced over at them. “If you have the ability, go show off too.”

The others went to play ball one after another. Besides Shen Shixiao and Xia Zhi, only a scattered few people got a strike. 

After Fang Tingyu finished playing, he sat next to Shen Shixiao and bumped his shoulder. “Hey, are you serious about Xia Zhi?”

Shen Shixiao was looking at his phone. “Why ask that?”

Fang Tingyu: “I just feel that you two are too sweet. Haven’t you always been thinking about your first love from when you studied abroad? Is Xia Zhi better than that first love of yours?”

Shen Shixiao’s expression was calm. “Haven’t forgotten, still here.”

After finishing bowling, everyone went to the snooker hall in groups of three or five. Xia Zhi heard others say that Shen Shixiao really liked playing snooker and often went to play during college. For this reason, Father Shen specially opened several clubs in the country where he studied abroad.

“Shen…” Xia Zhi opened his mouth. It seemed he still didn’t have a clear form of address for Shen Shixiao.

Shen Shixiao was using chalk to rub his cue stick. Xia Zhi pondered for a long time, ran over, and asked in a low voice, “Shixiao-ge, where did you study abroad in college?”

Shen Shixiao: “France.”

Xia Zhi: “What a coincidence, I also studied abroad in France before.”

“I know.”

The one playing against Shen Shixiao was Bai Qi. Xia Zhi didn’t know how to play billiards, so he sat honestly to the side, watching the game. 

Playing billiards tests patience and carefulness. Shen Shixiao leaned over gently, his expression focused. He used his strength very skillfully, hitting the target with one strike.

In just a short 15 minutes, the match ended.

Because of the match, Shen Shixiao had some beads of sweat on his forehead. As a competent marriage alliance partner, Xia Zhi eagerly trotted over to hand him a tissue, his eyes shining brightly. 

Having won another chip, Shen Shixiao still handed it to Xia Zhi.

“A gift for you.”

An afternoon passed, and Xia Zhi’s pockets were full of chips. Just by cashing them in with the club, he could get over a hundred thousand. 

He clutched his pocket: So rich!

The games ended, and Xia Zhi became the MVP of the session, gaining the right to make a request. However, he wasn’t very familiar with everyone and couldn’t grasp the appropriate limits of making a request, so he shyly said, “I’ll just make the request to Shixiao-ge, we will talk about it when we get home.”

This sentence ‘talk about it when we get home’ successfully piqued everyone’s curiosity. Fang Tingyu teased, “What are you going to request at home?”

Xia Zhi’s smile disappeared, and he fiercely said, “None of your business!”

On the way home, Shen Shixiao was in a good mood. His eyes were relaxed and closed, and the car was playing cheerful and relaxing music.

“Do you have any requests to make of me?” he suddenly asked.

Of course I do!!!

Xia Zhi suppressed the thoughts in his heart and said to Shen Shixiao, “Today, I got 130k in total—let me give you 100k.”

Shen Shixiao smiled. He opened his eyes and asked, “Why give me so much?”

Xia Zhi slowly said, “It’s because they are all chips you won!”

Aren’t I good!

Shen Shixiao’s smile deepened. “No need, you keep it all.”

After acting well-behaved, Xia Zhi’s lips curled into a smile and got to the main point. “Then I do indeed have a request. I’ve been raising three little stray cats at the film set, so can I bring them home? After all, I’m going to record a variety show and will rarely have time to take care of them.”

Shen Shixiao: “You can. Do we need to go right now?”

Xia Zhi nodded like a chick pecking at rice. “Hmm-mm!”

The luxury commercial vehicle stopped at the entrance of the film and television city. After Xia Zhi greeted his old friends, he carried a cardboard box to the small grove and called the kittens’ names. Soon, three chubby, robust-looking little cats sat uniformly in the box, looking curiously at the unfamiliar place.

Shen Shixiao looked at him. “You raised them very well. They don’t look like stray cats.”

Of course! These three cubs were fed by him, bag after bag of cat food! 

It was all money!

Upon returning home, the servants quickly found a place to settle the kittens. Cat food and water sources had long been prepared. Xia Zhi clasped his hands behind his back in satisfaction.

Look, this is the empire daddy conquered for you!

The servants noticed that Shen Shixiao tonight was very different from before. He wasn’t as silent and taciturn, and was actually sitting to the side, watching Xia Zhi tease the cats with great interest.

It was late, and Shen Shixiao and Xia Zhi bid each other goodnight. He walked towards the room at the end of the corridor. Before parting, he heard Xia Zhi softly say thank you.

Xia Zhi stood at the door and watched Shen Shixiao walk in. He knew what that room meant—it was probably Shen Shixiao thinking of his first love again.

Many portraits were displayed in the room. Shen Shixiao would paint here when he was bored. What was special was, all the portraits here were of the same person.

The night grew darker, and Shen Shixiao’s firm arms felt a bit sore. He finally completed another piece of work. 

This time, he solemnly framed the oil painting. After looking at it for a long time, he slowly walked out of the room and locked the door tightly.

In the living room, there was only Shen Shixiao alone. A glass of red wine was placed in front of him. 

The silver watch tightly held in his hand had faded. He had worn it for exactly four years. 

This was when he was in the hospital that year—the favorite birthday gift he received.

The corners of his eyes were tainted with drunkenness. Shen Shixiao informed the butler, “I will not enter the room at the end of the corridor again, seal it up.”

Today was the day Xia Zhi signed up to participate in the variety show. When filling out the basic information, there was an item for marital status. 

He didn’t think much about it, and directly filled in ‘married’.

Yan Wenqing personally received Xia Zhi. After receiving his information form, he chatted with him about the general situation of this variety show. 

The filming location was in the film and television city. “Best Actor” was not quite the same as ordinary acting variety shows. During the competition, everything was filmed on location and broadcast live. The audience and judges sat to the side to watch from a close distance.

The scripts performed by the actors would have roles assigned in advance. The scripts included suspense, comedy, and tragedy. It was a true continuous one-take, with no NGs²This is a common term used in the Asian entertainment industry (originating from Japan and used widely in China/Korea). It stands for “No Good” and refers to bloopers, outtakes, or a take that needs to be re-shot because someone made a mistake. allowed. 

The judges and audience would know the short biographies of the roles played by the actors in advance when watching the live broadcast, and vote in real-time on the internet.

This method was still the first of its kind in the country. Xia Zhi was very interested, and couldn’t help but ask, “This method must cost a lot of financial resources, right?”

Yan Wenqing raised his eyebrows. “No fear, your husband has exclusive title sponsorship.”

Holding his teacup, Xia Zhi almost did a spit-take. 

His husband was really awesome—a standard domineering CEO.

After returning home, Xia Zhi got his first script. He prepared to prepare well these few days. 

Leisurely leaning on the sofa eating fruit, he hummed a song. His mood was exceptionally good! 

After so many years, he finally had a role to act in!

At this time, he found a watch placed on the glass coffee table. Looking at the condition and surface of the watch, it was already worn out. The style was also from a few years ago. It didn’t look like Shen Shixiao’s belongings.

The butler walked over at this time and said, “Mr. Xia, this is Mr. Shen’s watch. He forgot to take it this morning and left it here.”

Xia Zhi nodded. “Then hurry up and put it away.”

The butler smiled awkwardly. “Mr. Shen’s personal items, we usually don’t dare to touch them easily. You are Mr. Shen’s lover—otherwise, could you help me take the watch back to his room?”

The butler’s words were sincere, and made sense. 

Xia Zhi was afraid he might accidentally bump into the watch here, so he carefully picked it up, preparing to take it upstairs. 

The staircase steps were wiped very clean. A maid saw Xia Zhi coming over, and silently left holding her cleaning tools.

“These stairs are really clean,” Xia Zhi praised.

The butler watched him; under the thick lenses, his eyes quietly narrowed.

At this time, the sound of a telephone came from the second-floor study. The butler urged, “It should be Mr. Shen’s phone call, you should go answer it.”

Hearing that it was Shen Shixiao’s call, Xia Zhi was momentarily anxious, sped up, and ran toward the stairs. Little did he know this marble floor was very slippery. In a moment of carelessness, his knee bumped against the stair steps, and because of bodily inertia, the watch consequently struck the ground, emitting a shattering sound.

Xia Zhi hastily picked up the watch, his forehead covered in a layer of cold sweat. 

He had dropped and broke Shen Shixiao’s watch.

At this time, the butler anxiously ran over to help Xia Zhi up, saying while supporting him, “Are you injured? It’s all my fault, the maid just finished mopping the floor and I didn’t remind you to pay attention to your safety.”

Sitting on the first-floor sofa, Xia Zhi worriedly said, “Getting hurt doesn’t matter, it’s just that I broke his watch.”

“My god! This is, this is…” The butler turned pale with fright. “This is the birthday gift Mr. Shen’s first love gave him.”

“Ah?” Xia Zhi was slightly shocked in his heart. He just wanted to ask the butler what to do about this, but when he saw the butler’s feigned expression of worry, he didn’t say anything. 

He was someone who studied acting. He could feel that the butler was acting with him, and the acting skills were clumsy.

Recalling everything that just happened, the points of suspicion gradually threaded into a single line. 

It seemed he had been set up by someone!

Seeing him not speaking, the butler adjusted his glasses frame. “How are you preparing to tell Mr. Shen?”

Xia Zhi calmly said, “Allow me to think.”

In the evening, the sound of Shen Shixiao’s car engine sounded outside the door. Xia Zhi let out a soft breath, ran to the door limping with reddened eye rims, and curled his lips. 

Like this, presumably he won’t be scolded too fiercely, right?

Looking at Xia Zhi who got into character in one second, the butler: ??? How come I didn’t see you crying just now?

When Shen Shixiao came in, he carried half a point of astonishment. “What’s wrong?”

Xia Zhi pouted his lips. “Mr. Shen, I have good news and bad news here. Which one do you want to hear first?”

Shen Shixiao didn’t understand the reason, and followed along with him saying, “The good news.”

Xia Zhi held up his phone. “I know a watch repair master whose skills are top-notch.”

Shen Shixiao: “And the bad news?”

Xia Zhi lowered his head, raised his right hand and swore, “I fell when going up the stairs and accidentally broke your beloved watch. But I will try my best to remedy it and will definitely restore it to its original state.”

In the living room stood many servants; most of everyone was cautiously paying attention to the situation over here. 

Having just come to this family not long ago, and breaking Shen Shixiao’s most beloved watch, truly having big guts.

Hearing this, Shen Shixiao’s expression carried a bit of urgency, abruptly taking a step forward. Xia Zhi thought he was going to be beaten, and tremblingly pulled out a stick from behind him. “Hit lightly.”

The loose trouser leg was suddenly lifted up. Xia Zhi blinked, feeling a chilly breeze on his leg.

Shen Shixiao frowned and squatted down. “Where are you hurt?”

• 1
  Literally “little demon/spirit.” Depending on context, it can be an insult (a homewrecker/seducer) or a flirtatious term of endearment. Here, Bai Qi is using it half-insultingly, half-reluctantly admiringly, thinking Xia Zhi is a master seducer.
• 2
  This is a common term used in the Asian entertainment industry (originating from Japan and used widely in China/Korea). It stands for “No Good” and refers to bloopers, outtakes, or a take that needs to be re-shot because someone made a mistake.